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Financing Your Business

Amazon Rewards Card: Could It Be Right for Your Business?

Last Updated on December 12, 2017

Brayden is Fundera's credit cards expert. He's passionate about helping businesses take advantage of the best credit card offers on the market, from the longest 0% intro APR periods to the richest cash back and travel rewards bonuses.

Amazon seems to be everywhere, offering everything lately. From their very own products to third-party essentials, with just a click of a button you can purchase practically anything off of Amazon.

Recently, they’ve even made the step into the credit cards market, and it’s certainly an enticing offer to earn top rewards for your business’s spending on Amazon.com.

But are the rewards that the Amazon business cards offer worth sacrificing other top business credit card deals for?

We’ll compare the Amazon business credit cards to their top business credit card competitors so that you can see which is the best for you and your business.

Let’s take a look:

TL;DR: The Amazon Business Credit Cards and Their Alternatives

While we’ll go into detail on all things Amazon business credit cards throughout this article, you might just be here to get a general idea of what these cards can offer you, so we’ll provide a quick summary now:

The Amazon Rewards cards come in two forms—the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card and the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card. They’re essentially the same card except for a few key differences. The Prime version:

Only available to Amazon Prime members

Offers 5% unlimited rewards point for all Amazon purchases (instead of the 3% that the non-Prime card offers)

Comes with a $70 Amazon gift card (instead of the $50 that the non-Prime card offers) upon approval

Other than that, the cards offer the same perks:

2% unlimited rewards return on purchases made at gas stations, restaurants, and drugstores

1% unlimited rewards returns on all other purchases

Various protections and Visa Signature perks

If you’re thinking the Amazon Rewards cards aren’t quite the right fit, look into their top business credit card competitors:

The Rundown on the Amazon Business Credit Cards

So, let’s cover the basics of the Amazon business credit cards. For starters, the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Cards aren’t actually specific to business. Rather than them “Amazon business credit cards,” it’s better to refer to them as the Amazon Rewards credit cards.

Additionally, they’re both issued by Chase bank, so that’s another name you’ll be working with if you decide to sign on to one of the Amazon Rewards cards.

Plus, they both come with protections that are built into their cardholder experience. When you qualify for either one of the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature cards, you’ll gain access to a host of essential protections including:

Travel and emergency assistance

Lost luggage reimbursement

Baggage delay insurance

Travel accident insurance

Auto rental collision insurance

Purchase protection

Extended warranty protection

Roadside dispatch

Not to mention, you’ll gain access the perks that come with carrying a Visa Signature card as well, not the least of which is access to the Visa Signature Concierge Service and the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection.

The best part of all?

Neither of the Amazon Rewards cards will come with an annual membership fee or a foreign transaction fee, so you won’t have to pay to access any of the perks they offer.

The Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card

Now that we’ve gone over the general perks that the two Amazon Rewards cards can offer, let’s zoom in a little to see what features each specific card boasts.

This credit card is available to any business owner with an Amazon account, even if it’s not an Amazon Prime account.

If you qualify for the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card, then you’ll gain access to rewards rates of:

3% unlimited rewards on all Amazon purchases

2% unlimited rewards on all purchases at gas stations, restaurants, and drug stores

1% unlimited rewards on all other purchases

Plus, when you qualify for this Amazon Rewards credit card, an Amazon gift card of $50 will automatically be added to your card’s account. For many card’s signing bonuses, you have to spend a certain amount on your card within a certain amount of time in order to access them. However, with the Amazon Rewards cards, your warm welcome is automatic.

The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card

This Prime card is available only to business owners who have an Amazon Prime account, and though the card comes with no annual fee, your Prime account annual fee will be a built-in fee of at least $99 annually that you’ll need to consider.

Nonetheless, many business owners might be investing in a Prime membership anyway—for all its perks that are external to this card—whether or not they intend to become an Amazon Prime Visa Signature cardholder. As such, they might overlook the Prime membership annual fee as a sunk, inevitable cost.

Now that we’ve covered what the card might cost you, let’s take a look at what the Amazon Prime Rewards Signature Visa can earn you.

By and large, this card essentially offers the same baseline perks as its non-Prime counterpart. However, this Amazon Prime Rewards card comes with a few huge upgrades:

You’ll earn an unlimited 5% rewards returns on all of your Amazon purchases, instead of the 3% rewards returns that the non-Prime Amazon Rewards card offers.

You’ll get a $70 Amazon gift card automatically added to your account as soon as you qualify for the Amazon Prime Rewards card.

Plus, you’ll get access to all of the same premium perks delineated above in the non-Prime Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card’s section.

Things to Know About Amazon Rewards Points

The rewards returns that cardholders earn through spending with the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Cards come in the form of points. They will be worth a penny per point, so dividing your points by 100 will tell you how many dollars your points balance is worth. For instance, if you’ve earned 100 points with your Amazon Rewards card, then your points balance will be worth $1.

At risk of stating the obvious, these points can be used for any purchase you make through Amazon. But that’s not where your redemption possibilities end.

As Chase issues these cards, you’ll be able to redeem your points for cash back, gift cards, or travel through Chase as well.

As far as rewards points go, the ones that you’ll earn through the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature cards are exceptionally versatile.

Alternatives to the Amazon Rewards Card

With all that said, the Amazon Rewards cards still aren’t business-specific credit cards. If you’re looking for business-friendly rewards and higher credit limits, then you might want to look elsewhere.

Luckily, there is a wide variety of business credit cards that offer stellar rewards and perks that could potentially overshadow the Amazon Rewards cards’ for you.

Let’s take a look at some business credit cards that are better tailored for your business spending:

The Ink Preferred starts you off with the most generous signing bonus on the market. Once you spend $5,000 during your first three months with the card, you’ll earn a whopping 80,000 bonus points. And because these points will be worth 25% more if you redeem them through Chases’ travel portal, Chase Ultimate Rewards, this signing bonus could end up being worth upwards of $1,000 if you redeem it strategically.

How does that Amazon Rewards signing bonus of $50 or $70 sound now? Essentially, any other signing bonus on the market pales in comparison to the Ink Preferred’s.

However, the Ink Preferred doesn’t only offer one-off bonuses. Indeed, you’ll earn 3x points for every dollar you spend on:

Travel

Shipping purchases

Advertising purchases made with search engines and social media sites

And Internet, cable, and phone services for up to $150,000 worth of purchases every year.

After that spending cap and outside of those spending categories, you’ll earn 1x rewards for every dollar you spend with no limit to how many rewards points you can earn.

One notable downside about the Ink Preferred that you need to consider is that it comes with an annual fee of $95. However, when measured against the signing bonus, this fee seems like small change.

2. The Blue Business Plus from American Express

Though this card doesn’t come with a welcome bonus, the amount that its 0% intro APR period could save you fair outweighs any one-off influx of rewards points.

In fact, the Blue Business Plus offers that longest 0% intro APR period of any business credit card out there. For 15 whole months, you can carry an interest-free balance as long as you pay your minimum monthly payments on time. If you need to make a big purchase for your business and pay it off over time, the Blue Business Plus could end up saving your business tons of money in avoided interest.

Additionally, the Blue Business Plus offers sustained rewards of 2x points for every dollar you spend on up to $50,000 annually. After that spending cap, you’ll earn an unlimited 1x points for every dollar you spend.

Even better?

The Blue Business Plus doesn’t come with an annual fee, so you’ll be able to access the longest 0% intro APR period on the market for free.

3. The Capital One Spark Cash for Business

This business credit card is a cash back card, so all of the rewards you earn will come in the form of cash rather than points.

The Spark Cash offers unlimited, flat-rate 2% cash back for every dollar you spend with it. Additionally, if you qualify for the Spark Cash, you’ll get the opportunity to access a $500 welcome bonus—you’ll just have to spend $4,500 within your first three months with the card.

With that said, the Spark Cash does come with one downside that’s important to consider—its $95 annual fee. But bear with us—Capital One will waive the annual fee for your first year with the card, so you’ll be able to spend the year testing the waters before you decide whether the Spark Cash will earn your business enough to justify its annual fee.

The Bottom Line on the Amazon Rewards Business Credit Cards

So, what’s the bottom line to all of the information we’ve just gone over regarding the Amazon Rewards cards and their competitors?

Quite simply, if you’re looking for a home for your business spending, then you’re probably going to be able to find a better option than either of the Amazon Rewards credit cards. With higher credit lines and more business-friendly top earning categories, business-specific credit cards will always be the better choice.

And with options boasting such stellar rewards rates, like the Ink Preferred, the Blue Business Plus, and the Spark Cash, what’s to lose?

All in all, business credit cards are almost always the best options for business spending.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Brayden is Fundera's credit cards expert. He's passionate about helping businesses take advantage of the best credit card offers on the market, from the longest 0% intro APR periods to the richest cash back and travel rewards bonuses.